Take Me For A Ride On Your Lulaby
by Ray T. Akaru
Summary: For every action in this life, something better happens in another. Can bonds of seperated friends stay held together in another demension? And how would you feel if you killed your best friend? Find out in here.


_The soft sand under my feet is no help these day's_

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto**

**Warnings: Uhm...-shrugs- go by the rating**

**A/N: Hn...sorry I haven't posted and/or updated in months. I've been busy with my life and what not. Well here's a one-shot to keep you entertained. Enjoy.**

**Take Me For A Ride On Your Lulaby**

Rough and calloused over fingers brushed against cold stone. It was very cold indeed; each and every groove felt under the warm hands, that only seconds ago had been covered by warm gloves. A few fingers were wrapped with tape and butterfly stitches held cuts together. The hands looked bruised, worked, and old. But really they belonged to someone who wasn't a day over 19. Infact he was a day away from it. It had been years from his wonderful childhood to where he sat in that point in time.

Small rain drops fell onto his hands cooling the warm flesh. He looked up; bright blue eyes dulled considerably by the years of wear on his body, heart, and mind. Standing up and placing the black Gloves back over his hands he jumped down off of the Hokage monument his feet landing perfectly on the ground. He was agile and very swift, but also very light on his feet. Looking ahead he began to walk towards the large gates that allowed people to exit and enter the city.

His steps were slow and his head seemed to hang down as his eyes watched the rain pelt the ground, turning dust and dirt to mud. Stopping in front of the gates he looked up at them, rain drops hitting his face making him look like he was crying. Yet he secretly was. He wiped his face of the tears and rain drops before he continued to walk past the gates. The two men sitting at the small desk knowing that he had permission to leave and come as he pleased.

As the gates closed with a loud clank behind him he crouched down and put his hand on the ground more tears slipping from his eyes as the rain soaked his clothes thoroughly. This happened every year, even the rain happened. The very day before his birthday the clouds would gray and he would leave to go walking about outside to try and clear his thoughts.

Everyone always used to think he was brave, but he had doubt constricting his heart, and even one of his closest friends couldn't help him now. He wished to the very core of himself that he could forgive everything that happened, but that wasn't the case. It was impossible to forgive, let alone forget it. Even his makeshift father and mother couldn't help him; he truly was a lost cause. Just like the person who was causing all this pain to surge through every bone or nerve in his body.

His foot steps were pushed into the ground then washed away by the heavy rain. It would always start like that, the rain would be soft, and then it would get harder and harder. The skies would begin to become black, then thunder and lightening would crash and light up the sky for hours until the next morning.

With each step he took, he knew he was getting closer to where he wanted to be, some place where no one else really ever went, maybe Sakura, Sai, Kakashi and the rest of their friends would go once or twice a year, but each week he would walk down here, to this very place and stand there for hours in silence. It was as if he felt he was saying everything he ever wanted to say by being quiet. After all that particular person had always told him to shut up.

Arriving deep in the woods he peered out from behind two very large trees, a grass covered hill sitting there. It was like a small meadow with a hill in the middle of the woods for no reason. Smiling the best he could, even though he knew no one would see, he walked forward his steps slower and his chest tight. A sob was wrenched from his throat as he fell to his knees in front of the large stone grave. He looked down at the ground as his tears that were mixed with rain fell onto it. Mud soaked into his clothes as he cried as hard as his body would allow.

His throat was sore by the fifth minute that he had been crying. His sobs had gone down to a shudder and some sniffles along with a cough every once in a while. It was the same every damn year; he would walk out there and cry. It had gone on for four years now. He would leave the comfort of his home village and go to this remote spot out in the woods to cry in front of a grave. It wasn't his mothers, or his fathers. It wasn't a lovers either. It was merely a fallen comrade who happened to be like a brother to him.

He looked up at the carved words in the stone, and the head band that was placed into the stone by the person who made it. A large scratch was across the head protector, crossing out the leave village symbol of the baby leaf. He reached his shaking hands forward and ran his fingers over it slowly, all the memories flooding back to him once again. It felt like his heart stopped each time he was to do that. It was like his past had come back and he was suddenly back in the moment he had lost his best friend.

It hurt each year, but it never got worse, nor did it lessen. He was always in pain, and he knew that all his friends saw through the fake smile he put up, and his mask that was made of fake happiness. No one after what had happened to him could smile and be happy all the time. Yet he didn't want to have them see him in his vulnerable place, it wasn't something he was too fond of.

He leaned back then, still on his knees as he just stared down at the grave stone, his eyes reading over the name date and words constantly. His eyes scanned over them one more time, it said:

Uchiha Sasuke

July 7th 1990 - Aug. 18th 2006

Last survivor of the Uchiha Clan massacre, loved comrade

and valued Shinobi.

He will never be forgotten.

It wasn't easy for the blond haired boy to look at those words, because he knew they were a lie. Sure he was the last survivor of the massacre, but no one saw him as a loved comrade besides team seven, and no one thought he was a valued shinobi since he abandoned his village, and lastly, mostly everyone forgot that he existed. Well with the exclusion of the Hokage, Jiraya, Kakashi, Sakura, Sai, and the rest of the teams and their parents. Yet it all seemed like a lost cause, since the grave was so far out and away from the village itself, because no one really wanted the Orochimaru prodigy inside of those walls.

Standing and looking up in the rain he thought about the last time he saw his friend alive. The last time he heard any words uttered from his mouth, or his fingers move. The last time he felt his presence and chakara near him.

_flash back_

_Sasuke swung his long and sharp sword down slicing Itachi's Akatsuki robe open. The older Uchiha snarled at Sasuke and threw a kunai at him while being hit from behind by Sai. The boy tried to restrain Itachi while Sakura, Kakashi, and Tsunade fought off the rest of the living Akatsuki members. Naruto on the other hand was trying to grab Sasuke and pull him away from the fight. _

_It was pouring out, and all the sounds around them dulled as bombs were thrown and screams were echoed from broken and bloodied bodies. Other members of the Leaf Village were in the woods fighting off the Akatsuki as well. Yet as the sounds dulled down, everything seemed to move in slow motion. Kakashi had thrown his opponent to the ground seemingly snapping his spinal cord finally. _

_Then he whipped around, water flying off of his soaked hair, his mask torn to pieces around his neck, blood oozing from open wounds. No one was any different, blood was leaking from their wounds, and they looked torn and tattered. Even Naruto himself looked like a living hell. His hair was matted down to his face, and blood was running down out of his mouth from his bit tongue. Blood leaking from his left ear and eye, but he wanted to save Sasuke nonetheless._

_He watched Itachi throw Sai away from him, the older boy slamming into a large rock, blood being coughed out of his lungs as he hit the ground in pain. Moving forward quickly Naruto saw how Sasuke was distracted by the thrown comrade. It was never good to be distracted, it ended your life, and that's what was about to happen. _

_Itachi had thrown a kunai at Sasuke's chest, the most probable cause was to hit him in the heart and kill him. Naruto couldn't utter out a sound as he ran, his feet slipping on the mud as he stumbled slightly but kept running as fast as his wounded body would take him. Yet he wasn't moving fast enough, his feet were slipping too much and his muscles weren't doing their job. _

_Then just as suddenly as the rain stopped, Kakashi stood in front of Sasuke, his taller body shielding the smaller boy's. Blood ran down his chest and mouth, tears slipping down his wet face. A painful cough was uttered out of his mouth as he fell to his knees, leaving Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto stunned. No one saw it coming, no one saw him move, and he could have just shoved Sasuke to the floor and dodged himself, or taken the two of them to the ground at the same time._

_Just then Tsunade had defeated her opponent and ran over to Kakashi screaming something about his aerial lobe being severed and he would die soon from it. Sai was up now and helping Sakura defeat Kanon. _

_Naruto's eyes began to glow red as tears stung them and he ran forward, Sasuke's eyes still down cast at Kakashi in pure disbelief. His feet carried him faster than before and his hand began to surge with power as he created the Fuuton Rasen Shuriken. He jumped up into the air Itachi smirking devilishly as Naruto came down to the ground._

_His attack hit head on, but not to the person he had wished it would have been. Somehow, and he couldn't comprehend how, but it was Sasuke. His arm was straight through the boy's chest, his heart destroyed and blood running out of his nose, mouth, and his tears were bloodied also._

_Naruto's body shook and he began to cry, sobs escaping his mouth. Itachi had escaped, and used Sasuke as his replacement, but how this happened no one knew. They had all seen Naruto attack Itachi, not Sasuke. _

_The once red eyes of the younger Uchiha became the dark onyx color once again. His lips moved slightly as he coughed up blood. He reached his pale hand forward and yanked Naruto down into a hug, or one that he could manage. He whispered something in Naruto's ear, that until that day no one but Naruto knew what he had said._

_As the words stopped, the eyes of Uchiha Sasuke became gray and dull. His pulse was no longer there, and his chakara had faded also. There was nothing left but a bloodied and torn body._

_end flash back_

It was nightfall and the rain had actually stopped. The wind was clam, and the chill outside wasn't as bad as most nights. Even though time was going on, and he would never forgive himself for what had happened he thought of what Sasuke had said to him. What he had explained in those last few words meant the world to Naruto.

If it hadn't of been for him thinking of those words, the night would have gone on raining and horrible. Yet the sky was clam and the stars shinned down upon the forest and the leave village. It was a full moon, so everything around Naruto was illuminated in a white light. He gave a soft smile and patted the grave stone before standing up, his soaked and dirty clothes dripping mud and water.

He turned on his heel and began to walk back to his village. Only three months ago, had Sasuke's birthday passed. He would have been nineteen this year, and he could have been one of the best Jounin that the village had, but this didn't seem to bother Naruto right then and there. Instead he smiled and began to talk as he was leaving, as if Sasuke could somehow hear him.

He stopped at the tree line, never turning around. "You know Teme...We didn't know each other very well until we were put into team seven...but I know you were powerful inside and out, even if you were scared at times. Hell even me and Sakura were scared at times, but I just wanted to truly and utterly let you know, that you were like a brother to me, and that if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be the ninja I am today...I'll be the Rokudaime in a month...and lastly Sasuke...I hope that one day, in some other far off life that we exist in, nothing like this was happening, that the world is different and no one has to fight for anything, so that we can just live in harmony...and be friends and never have to hurt one another ever..."

With that he carried himself off into the dark and deep woods. His foot prints sticking into the ground so if anyone were to go there, they would know that someone had already been there, they wouldn't know he had been there for hours or had cried, but just that someone carried for this grave as much as the ones inside of the Leaf Village walls.

As the large green metal doors came into view he smiled and waved to the men up top as they began to open the gates. Exchanging looks of worry, since Naruto was never happy when he came back, and he would always come back the next day when it was light out. As he entered the village he walked over to the booth where two men sat, giving him strange looks like 'why are you here?' or 'what exactly could you want to say to us?'

When he stopped in front of them, he reached into his pocket and politely handed them his pass to come and go as he pleased. "Keep this...I no longer needs it..."

He curtly nodded his head to them and then left, his legs carrying him towards his friends house. Sai had invited him, Sakura, and a few others over for the night to just have fun and keep their minds off of things, not to mention the next day was Naruto's birthday. He smiled to himself when in a few minutes he had arrived in front of the house. Only three shadows were present, and he knew who they were.

Walking up the metal flight of stairs quietly he knocked on the door, and then leaned against the metal railing by the steps waiting for someone to answer. As he heard a shout of 'coming' he smiled brighter. The door was pushed open and a flushed Sakura answered the door, a baking gown on her small frame, chocolate and cake mix smeared all over it.

"Naruto!" She jumped forward and hugged the dirty and soaked ninja without any hesitation.

They never minded anymore if the other person was dirty, if they were happy to see them, they would show it. After being invited in they had given Naruto a change of clothes and had talked to him about his going out to Sasuke's grave. He had told them that he wasn't going to go once a week anymore, and that three or four times a year would be sufficient.

They were happy for him, that he had finally let go somewhat. Then as if on que, Kakashi smiled, his mask gone from his face and he looked directly at Naruto. "Back when he was dying...what exactly had he said to you?"

Sai and Sakura grew quiet, neither had ever asked him for fear of upsetting the blond to no end, but Naruto only smiled brighter. He took a deep and long breath scooting to the front of his seat as he looked to all of them, his hands clasped in front of him.

"He said exactly this to me..." He paused and shut his eyes. "Itachi was never my brother, he was only a blood relative, but you Uzumaki Naruto, Kohana's most extremely annoying ninja, were my true brother, and my best friend...thank you for...saving me...dobe..."

Naurto merely looked up, small tears rolling down his defined cheek bones to his strong jaw. Everyone else looked to him, tears in their eyes also. They knew that Naruto was blamed for the death of the Uchiha even if it ultimately was Itachi's fault, but they also knew that the reason he would always cry, was purely because Sasuke saw Naruto killing him as saving him. And to Naruto the pain of losing someone, but that person feeling as if they were saved must have torn him apart.

Kakashi just nodded and then turned to look at the clock. "Its twenty minutes until your birthday Naruto...but how about we have the cake now?"

A small laugh escaped his lips and he nodded. "That sounds like a wonderful idea..."

Sai, Sakura, Kakashi, and Naruto all moved to Sai's kitchen to grab some plates and a cup. Their plates would be filled with Sakura's famous Vanilla fluff cake, and their cups would have some milk or coffee in them, probably both by the time they were done talking. It was as if everything was back to normal and no one was going to be sad anymore.

-----

It was exactly twelve o'clock in the afternoon. The sun was high in the sky and it was glistening off of the lake only fifteen feet from the two boy's laying in the grass. The one had onyx hair and reddish brown eyes while the other boy had sun lit blond hair and icy blue eyes. Smiles were placed on their faces as they chatted and pointed to clouds.

Their mothers and fathers, and one older brother were setting up a picnic table a big blue and yellow cake right in the middle of it, thirteen candles on the cake, and another for good luck. Laughter was heard from the table and the blond boy looked backwards to see his father ruffling his best friends brothers hair. The older teen looked so pissed.

Then while wiggling his tan toes and looking up at the clouds, both of his hands placed behind his head propping it up off of the ground, he smiled and looked over to the raven haired boy. "Hey...Sasuke...do you think that...somewhere in some alternate universe we're best friends?"

The boy named Sasuke turned his head and raised a thin eyebrow. "Idiot...you watch too much TV. your parents really should remove that sci-fi channel."

Then with a heartfelt laugh Sasuke stood, stretched, and then looked down at the blond boy. He extended his hand to help him up, a soft smile on his lips. When the blond grabbed his hand. Sasuke laughed a little and pulled him up to look into his big blue eyes. "Happy Birthday Naruto."

In the distance, by an old oak tree two men who could not be seen stood there. The taller one's white hair cascaded down his broad back only centimeters above his knee cap. The other male stood quite a few feet shorter than him, and his hair was a short black, spiked up in the back. He smiled and shook his head as he looked up to the other man. "Jiraya...we should go now...I don't like staying away from our dimension for too long...you know that."

The older man just smiled and the both of them disappeared in a mist, to only arrive near their graves back in their own dimension in their own time.

**A/N: So...this is a really horridly written one-shot for all of you, since I realize I have been gone for quite some time. I don't know when I'm going to be posting new chapters up, but I do indeed know I will be posting.**


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